CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield Highlights Accusatory Questions From Investigators In UNC Rape Case

Banfield: “I’m Going To Paraphrase Her. How Many Dates Have You Gone On? What's Your Sexual History? What Were You Wearing? Did You Lead Him On? Did You Say No?”

From the September 14 edition of CNN’s Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield:

Video file

ASHELIGH BANFIELD (HOST): I have another story that we've been working on today. I really want you to get this. The wheels of justice. We often deal with it on this show. They are slow, most times. But they are finally in motion, seems, for a University of North Carolina student. Less than 24 hours after Delany Robinson went public about her alleged rape by a football player at UNC Chapel Hill, the accused linebacker, Allen Artis, is out on $5,000 bond after turning himself in. He faces a charge of misdemeanor sexual battery and assault on a female. Misdemeanor charges. CNN reached out to his attorney who says, quote, “We have no comment.” Although this is just coming to light, the story actually goes back seven months, all the way to Valentine's Day, because that is when Robinson alleges that she was assaulted by Mr. Artis. And I hope I'm pronouncing his name right, it could be Artis, Artis. But it's him on the left-hand side of your screen. On the night of the incident, Robinson says she reported what happened to the police, and there is a report. And yet she says that she felt victimized by the people who are supposed to be keeping her safe. Here she is in her very own words describing what that was like. 

[…]

BANFIELD: Robinson decided to take her story public after months of trying to get formal charges, and here is the result of it. The district attorney's office says it is still deciding on whether to bring felony charges. They say that decision will not come forth until the investigation is completed. In the meantime, UNC has released a statement, and they are saying this: “The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is deeply committed to the safety and well-being of our students and takes all allegations about sexual violence or sexual misconduct extremely seriously.” Goes on to say -- well, sorry. Let’s stop the segment right there, I don't want to add any words to their university statement, but I do want to discuss this with Andrea Pino, because she is one of the main subjects in the documentary The Hunting Ground. She’s a graduate of UNC at Chapel Hill. She’s also the co-author of We Believe You: Survivors Of Campus Assault Speak Out. Thank you so much for being with me, Andrea.

So you heard all of those issues that this survivor has said happened to her in her interview. I'm going to paraphrase her. How many dates have you gone on? What's your sexual history? What were you wearing? Did you lead him on? Did you say no? I want to get your reaction to that and -- because you have not only gone through this yourself but you have literally talked to thousands of women across the country who have had these experiences and then had to report them. And I want to get your feeling on this most recent one. 

ANDREA PINO: I’m sad to say that I'm honestly not surprised what's happening at Chapel Hill. It's very similar to what was happening five years ago when we were considering filing our federal complaint, and it was really the reason why we filed our federal complaint, because we had seen problems happening not just at the university but also in Chapel Hill Police, and the DPS system as well. That there really isn’t any indication the university is actually wanting to take this issue seriously, much less the city of Chapel Hill itself. 

[…]

This case really echoes a lot of what happened with the Brock Turner case. The questions that she was asked is very similar to what the victim in the Stanford case said in her victim impact statement. And I think it shows this bigger problem that we have with criminal justice system not taking rape very seriously. 

Related:

CNN: UNC Student Says She Was Raped By Football Player

Previously:

CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield Shows The Media How To Report On Sexual Assault

CNN's Ashleigh Banfield Shuts Down Trump Suppoter's Dismissal Of Battery Lawsuit: “Trying To Physically Curtail The Press...Is A Problem.”

With Her Stanford Rape Case Reporting, CNN's Ashleigh Banfield Set The Standard For Media Coverage